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Fragile Elite : The Dilemmas of China's Top University Students

Bregnbæk, Susanne LU orcid (2016) In Anthropology of Policy
Abstract
China's One Child Policy and its rigorous national focus on educational testing are well known. But what happens to those "lucky" few at the very top of the pyramid? Fragile Elite explores the contradictions of being an elite student through ethnographic research conducted at two top universities in China. It uncovers the intimate psychological strains students suffer under the pressure imposed on them by parents and state, where the state acts as a parent, and the parents sometimes reinforce the state. The book offers insights into the intergenerational tensions as work in relation to the ongoing shifts in educational policy and definition of what a "quality" student, child, and citizen is in contemporary China.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
published
subject
in
Anthropology of Policy
pages
184 pages
publisher
Stanford University Press
ISBN
9780804796071
9780804797795
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher's page: https://www.sup.org/books/asian-studies/fragile-elite?tab=2
id
8c88389f-4225-42c8-bf21-e40f1e615fb2
date added to LUP
2026-04-20 16:13:16
date last changed
2026-05-27 03:30:17
@book{8c88389f-4225-42c8-bf21-e40f1e615fb2,
  abstract     = {{China's One Child Policy and its rigorous national focus on educational testing are well known. But what happens to those "lucky" few at the very top of the pyramid? Fragile Elite explores the contradictions of being an elite student through ethnographic research conducted at two top universities in China. It uncovers the intimate psychological strains students suffer under the pressure imposed on them by parents and state, where the state acts as a parent, and the parents sometimes reinforce the state. The book offers insights into the intergenerational tensions as work in relation to the ongoing shifts in educational policy and definition of what a "quality" student, child, and citizen is in contemporary China.}},
  author       = {{Bregnbæk, Susanne}},
  isbn         = {{9780804796071}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  publisher    = {{Stanford University Press}},
  series       = {{Anthropology of Policy}},
  title        = {{Fragile Elite : The Dilemmas of China's Top University Students}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}